Electric Encounters
by paintupurple
Summary: Lightning Lad needs to find Saturn Girl, but people keep interfering in his trek to the roof. LLxSG, slight B5xSM


Lightning Lad wandered through the halls of the Legion headquarters, silently steaming. Stupid Cosmic Boy; he _always _had to be right about everything, that purple-wearing, gravity-defying jerk. And Saturn Girl _always _agreed with him! It was always all about Cosmic Boy, the brave, determined, _perfect _leader.

"I detect levels of frustration in you, Lightning Lad."

Lightning Lad internally groaned as he turned to face Brainiac Five, not really wanting to deal with the robot at the moment.

"Yeah, good job, Brainy," he snapped with more bite than he intended.

"Did something happen with Cosmic Boy again?" Brainy continued, catching up to him.

Lightning Lad grunted and averted his gaze. "None of your business, B."

"So I'm correct?" Brainy smiled smugly to himself. "You can't hide things like that from _me_, you know. I have a…"

_Twelfth level intelligence, blah, blah, blah. _He'd heard it all a million times. Lightning lad just blocked out the annoying chatter, focusing on not electrocuting the robot next to him.

"Don't you have something better to do, Brainy?" he said, when he was sure he could not stand any more of his irritating voice. "Like follow Superman around? I think I saw him in the kitchen. Or maybe that was Kal-El…"

Brainiac Five gave him a pointed glare.

"I see you want to be alone."

_No sprock, genius. Your twelfth level intelligence never ceases to amaze me._

"Fine. I will leave you be. If you want to talk to Saturn Girl, she's on the roof." The robot paused, then placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't brood over this. Cosmic Boy was just being Cosmic Boy as usual, I presume."

Lightning Lad softened his expression just a bit.

"Thanks, Brainy."

The Coluan smiled, then left him alone in the hallway, humming some twenty-first century song to himself; probably the Superman theme song or something. The kid had a rather unhealthy obsession, in his opinion, but he honestly admired his persistence.

Shaking off the thought with a slight smile, Lightning Lad altered his path to head towards the roof. He hated to admit it, but Brainy _did _make him feel better, if just a little bit. He was glad he had cooled off somewhat before finding Saturn Girl. He didn't want her to think badly of him.

He stopped when he saw white in his peripheral vision.

"You can come out, Dream Girl," he said, waiting.

She drifted to his side silently, peering up at him through her white tresses.

"Well, go ahead," Lightning Lad said, lifting a strawberry-blonde eyebrow at her. "What did you see?"

Dream Girl bit her bottom lip, looking concerned. "Try not to get into more conflicts with Cosmic Boy, or at least apologize for it. Saturn Girl is getting tired of it, and if you push it any further…" She looked straight into his eyes, a solemn expression on her face. "You'll lose her, Lightning Lad."

He smiled dryly. _You can't lose what you never had._

"Tell me something I _don't _know," he said instead.

Dream Girl stared up at him with worried eyes. "Lightning Lad…" she trailed off, obviously unsure of what to say.

"I'm fine, Dream Girl," he assured her, offering her a smile. "Thanks for worrying about me."

She smiled back, and he could tell she understood. The two had become really close after they worked together to save their teammates, and they understood each other. She was one of his best friends on the team, aside from Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy… although he was not sure if the term "friend" accurately described his relationship with _him. _

As she began to walk away, she called over her shoulder to him. "And don't eat the cherries in the fridge tonight, no matter _how _much you want a midnight snack. Those pits have a way of lodging themselves into your throat."

Lightning Lad gulped and unconsciously brought his hand to his throat. "Thanks, D."

She winked and continued on her way. Lightning Lad sighed, really glad he was on her good side; otherwise, he might have died by fruit pits long ago.

Sincerely hoping he would not run into anyone else on his epic trek to the roof, Lightning Lad swallowed and made himself calm down, then found an elevator and pressed the "up" button.

Unfortunately, when the double doors slid open, he found the elevator was not empty. Timber Wolf and Phantom Girl were inside, talking about what sounded like recipe comparisons. They stopped when they saw Lightning Lad.

"Hey, Lightning Lad!" Phantom Girl greeted, and he sighed and entered the elevator. "Where are you headed?"

"The roof," Lightning Lad replied. "I need to talk to Saturn Girl."

He saw Phantom Girl give Timber Wolf a meaningful look, and hoped they would drop it.

"Okay, well…" Phantom Girl paused deliberately. "If you have time, come down to the kitchen later. Timber Wolf made cookies again."

Said legionnaire grunted in embarrassment and looked away while Phantom Girl grinned mischievously at him.

"That is," Phantom Girl continued, turning her sly smile back to Lightning Lad. "Unless you need some more time for certain… _things._" Lightning Lad blushed.

"Take all the time you need, man," Timber Wolf said, joining Phantom Girl in grinning knowingly at him. "I'll save you some."

Lightning Lad was out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened, fleeing from the two superheroes.

"Aw, you're so caring!" he heard Phantom Girl coo to Timer Wolf as the doors began to close; he muttered something about bothersome women in reply.

Exhaling in relief, Lightning Lad made his way down the hall, only to smack right into Bouncing Boy, who automatically inflated and filled up most of the narrow corridor.

"Ack! Bouncy! _Squishing_ us!" a voice yelped from behind him. Lightning Lad struggled against his bulk, finding it difficult to breathe.

"Oops! Sorry, guys!"

Bouncing Boy shrank back into his original form, and Lightning Lad, Superman, and Triplicate Girl all fell to the floor, gasping for air. Bouncing Boy smiled sheepishly and helped up Triplicate Girl, then Lightning Lad. Superman was already up, unaffected all that much.

"Sorry, you just surprised me, Lightning Lad," Bouncing Boy said, adjusting his yellow goggles.

"It's fine, Bouncy," he said, trying to keep his irritation at bay. How many more run-ins would he have to face just so he could get to the sprocking roof?!

Before anyone else could ask him where he was headed, he quickly said, "Timber Wolf made cookies, so you guys should get some while they're fresh."

Bouncing Boy seemed to brighten considerably at that, and practically dragged Triplicate Girl to the elevator.

"Come on, Superman, or we'll leave you behind!" he called behind his shoulder. "The cookies wait for no-one!"

"Brainy's looking for you in the kitchen," Lightning Lad said to Superman, who blushed slightly. "I told him that's where you were, but I guess that was Kal-El."

Superman smiled and thanked him, then caught up with Bouncing Boy and Triplicate Girl in the elevator. Lightning Lad heaved another big, heavy sigh. If anyone else interrupted him, so help him he would…

He stopped mid-thought as he heard footsteps behind him. Swinging around, he said, "Look, I'm in a hurry, so—"

Is words caught in his throat as his eyes met a surprised pink. Saturn Girl stared at him curiously, her high eyebrows even higher in her surprise.

"Uh…" Lightning Lad flushed and looked away, embarrassed. "I was just, um, looking for you…" he trailed off awkwardly.

"Well, here I am," Saturn Girl said, hiding an amused smile only semi-successfully. "What is it, Lightning Lad?"

"Uh, well…" Lightning Lad mentally electrocuted himself for not preparing anything to say, then cursed his luck. If he had not run into anyone, he probably would have been more prepared… _probably. _Maybe.

_Oh, just get over yourself and apologize like a man!_

"Just, uh… sorry," he mumbled, finally meeting her gaze.

Saturn Girl blinked in surprise. "For what?" she asked incredulously.

Lightning Lad fumbled for words. "For, uh, you know," he gulped nervously, aware that he sounded like an idiot. "Always fighting with Cosmic Boy, and annoying you and stuff…"

Saturn Girl hesitated, then smiled. "You don't have to apologize, Garth. That's just the way your relationship is with him."

Lightning Lad shook his head in contradiction, ignoring the way his chest tightened when she said his real name.

"I _do _have to apologize, Imra," he said seriously. "I don't want to lose you…" he reddened, but continued. "So I'll avoid conflict from now on."

Saturn Girl's cheeks turned a pink that matched her eyes, and she smiled warmly at him and took his face in her hands.

"No you won't… but it's okay. You apologized, and that's more than Cosmic Boy has ever done."

Lightning Lad forced himself not to roll his eyes. Cosmic Boy would sooner burn alive on the surface of a sun than admit he was wrong to _any_one.

He was pulled out of his reverie and into Saturn Girl's embrace. Shocked, it took him a second to react, but then he returned it, wrapping his arms around her lithe frame.

"Thank you, Garth," she murmured, and warmth flooded his veins.

After a minute, they broke apart, and Lightning Lad remembered his earlier encounters with everyone.

"Timber Wolf made cookies," he informed her, grinning. "You want to go get some before Bouncing Boy inhales all of them?"

Saturn Girl laughed and replied, "Sure."

The two made their way back to the kitchen, where they were greeted with "heys" from their friends and the warm smell of chocolate chip cookies.

"That took a shorter amount of time than I expected," Timber Wolf mumbled, and Phantom Girl didn't bother to hide her snicker.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Bouncing Boy cried from the table, where Triplicate Girl had divided herself into three parts and eating the majority of the cookies. "Leave some for me, Trips!"

"You won again," Superman sighed as Brainy knocked over his king in their Chess game.

"Do not feel bad, Superman," Brainy said. "It is only natural that one of earth's sixth level intelligence cannot defeat one of a twelfth level intelligence, like myself, in Chess."

Everyone rolled their eyes simultaneously.


End file.
